For away-from-home use, the product is most often placed in a dispensing apparatus that protects the roll and dispenses the paper. Important functions of the dispenser that can be mentioned include the storage of the paper, hygiene, control of consumption, and of course the discharging of sheets.
Numerous examples of dispensing systems of this type are known.
In order to ensure the quality of the product dispensed, certain manufacturers have developed what are known as “captive” systems which are able to accommodate only one type of product or family of products determined in a given dispensing system.
Various systems exist to make the system “captive”.
The prior art comprises in particular plastics end fittings or plugs which have a special form and are placed for example inside a core on which the product is wound and which engage with holders placed in the dispenser. Without these end fittings, the roll cannot be installed or cannot be used correctly.
The main drawback with this type of dispenser is of an economic nature: it is necessary to manufacture additional elements that are not of great benefit to the user of the system and which cannot be used once the roll is finished. These plastics components therefore represent an additional cost and cause additional waste once the roll is finished.
Also known are rolls having flanks provided with a groove that engages in each case with a special holder. In such a design, a roll without a groove cannot be held in the dispenser or else the door of the dispenser cannot be closed on account of the different space requirement of the grooveless roll compared with a compatible roll having a groove.
This type of system is effective but manufacturing these grooves requires complex roll conversion plants.
Also known, among automatic or semi-automatic, electric or electronic motorized dispensers, is the use of rolls having a central core which is provided with a marking such as a barcode, which can be read by a “reading device” or barcode reader which is arranged in the dispenser on a special holder. In particular two common means exist for reading barcodes. Most conventional is optical reading, which consists in passing a light beam over the barcode and then analysing the light reflected. The barcodes used can also be printed using a magnetisable ink, in which case reading will then be magnetic.
A “compatible” roll without a barcode is unable to start the motorized dispenser. As a result, paper cannot be unwound, or alternatively it cannot be unwound under normal operating conditions.
When the marking formed by the barcode is carried by the core, and most frequently by the concave internal surface of the core, this requires particular and complex implantation of the reader.
Document EP-B1-0 566 384 discloses a roll having a mark, or marking, which is able to be detected and identified and can be attached directly to the external surface, or front, of the wound web over the entire length of the roll.
Such a design can make it easier to arrange means for reading the marking.
However, such a solution can only be accepted with difficulty because it entails providing, on the visible external surface of all sheets, an unattractive motif, such as a barcode, and also requires means for marking the entire web before it is wound up to form a new roll.
Furthermore, the marking can affect the general properties of the product and thus affect all of a roll.
The object of the invention is to provide an economical system for making captive a dispenser for paper in the form of a roll, said dispenser being, for example, automatic or semi-automatic, electric or electronic, while using conventional means for converting the paper.
To this end, the invention provides a system for dispensing a web of absorbent product in the form of a roll, of the type comprising:                a roll formed from a wound web of absorbent product, it being possible for said roll to be dispensed in successive sheets by progressive unwinding of the web in its longitudinal direction, the web having at least one characteristic mark of the roll;        a dispenser for dispensing the absorbent product by rotation of the roll about an axis, of the type which has a fixed housing and means for holding and guiding the roll in rotation with respect to the housing, and of the type which has means for identifying said mark in order to determine whether a new roll installed in the dispenser is a compatible roll,        
characterized in that said mark is present on a free end section of the new roll, and in that this marked free end section is followed by at least one section that does not have a characteristic mark of the roll.
According to other features of the invention:                in order to close the new roll, said free end section of the web is connected to an opposite portion of the wound web by connecting means forming at least one connecting region, and said mark is formed by at least one connecting region;        said connecting means comprise a bonding fluid which is introduced between the back of said free end section and the front of the opposite portion of the wound web and a physical and/or chemical characteristic of which can be analysed by said identification means;        said characteristic of the bonding fluid can be detected from outside the roll, through said free end section;        said mark extends in a transverse direction with respect to the longitudinal direction of the web;        said mark extends in the longitudinal direction of the web;        said characteristic mark of the roll is present on at least one other section of the roll which is located after said section that does not have a characteristic mark of the roll;        said mark is formed by a plurality of connecting regions;        said identification means comprise excitation means that emit incident radiation towards the surface of the web, means for receiving radiation reflected from the surface of the web and means for analysing the radiation reflected in order to determine the presence of a characteristic mark and to identify said mark in order to determine whether the new roll installed in the dispenser is a compatible roll.        